Having blogged about Facebook before I didn’t know whether to dedicate another post to it, however since it’s on my mind here it is.
Up until about a month ago, Facebook was something I did to pass the time and maybe send fun things to people who sent me things etc… I also had my share of friends from University who I had on my list of friends but who really just lurked there. All this began to change about 4 weeks ago when, suddenly close friends and colleagues began to join and since then I seem to have become completely addicted. I have begun updating my status several times a day (unnecessary) sending bizarre things to people I only saw a couple of hours ago, returning far too many times in an evening to feel down-hearted when my so-called real “friends” haven’t sent me anything, not even a gummi-bear! What it going on? I ask myself, have I become completely addicted or is it just that I have too much time on my hands and am so bored with the TV that it’s just my form entertainment. Is it unhealthy, I ask myself, to be exchanging messages about work etc…at 10.30 on a Friday evening with colleagues, when I and they should be relaxing in front of the TV or, even better out in Yarm?
In addition to this I have let ex-pupils become friends (well, I said I would) and now don’t know if I was right (don’t know why though). I don’t know if they really “get it” anyway as all they do is join groups with rude names!
My greatest concern is that my adiction could begin to affect my relationships with these people whom I see on a daily basis…maybe they don’t want polar bears, octapi (is that the plural of octapus?) and other such things flung at them every evening and they are really not interested in my attempts at whitty updates.
So, where do I go from here? Do I delete my account? I came close to that last night! Or do I just stop worrying, come to the conclusion that I’m paranoid and try to return to where I was a month ago…sending l’il green patch requests, throwing things to Lisa Stevens and just generally getting on with my life?
I do hope that normal service will be resumed soon, because it’s driving me crazy at the moment!!! I also quite liked messing on with Facebook before and I don’t really enjoy it anymore at all – it all seems to have got too serious!

ps…I’d also like to apologise to anyone I have sent stuff to over the past month, if it wasn’t appreciated (

It’s not often that I feel stongly enough to express an opinion (usually incase someone disagrees with me and I hate conflict) but anyway, this is something I feel very strongly about so here goes (sorry if I uspet anyone!)
Having pupils as friends on Facebook – Why???
I’ve just “befriended” a colleague of mine from work and on perusing their friends, discovered several of our pupils as friends. Now, I’m afraid I feel very strongly that pupils and Facebook don’t mix. From my point of view, Facebook is a place for me (and my friends) to share things we find funny / interesting etc and just to hang out and exchange silly messages in our status updates. It’s also somewhere I and can share my family photos and play Scramble – badly (although I wouldn’t say that I was in anyway addicted to this particular game). It’s something personal, and (to me) having pupils as friends on Facebook is almost as bad as them knocking on my door and asking to come in for a coffee / watch TV / come to the pub with me. It would mean that they were encroaching on my “me-time” and also that I couldn’t be “me” in my exchanges with real friends. Aside from all of this, one could lay oneself open to all kinds of problems by allowing pupils to be friends on Facebook…what if parents were aware and thought exchanges with friends / sending drinks or cocktails and such like were inappropriate and then complained to their child’s Headteacher, thus opening up a whole new can of worms? I don’t even want to go there!
Of course, now I’m in a bit of a difficult position, firstly do I mention my concerns to my colleague? Secondly, now I’m (innocently) semi-visible to pupils am I going to bombarded with friend requests…all of which I would refuse, of course? It’s a difficult one for someone who doesn’t like conflict, but, quite by accident, I’ve fallen into what could be a hornets’ nest!
The odd thing is, many of these friends are Yr11 (but not all) and of any of them were to request to be “friends” in September, when they’re safely out of our school I’d happily say “yes” because then I wouldn’t be dealing with them day to day on a professional basis and it’s nice to see how former pupils get on once they leave school.
Anyway, there’s my rant, maybe you agree with me, maybe you don’t…I’d love to hear other peoples’ opinions…(Oh and if anyone wants a quick gave of Scrambe, I do really like to get new – grown up – friends…I’ve lost 3 recently – not sure how that happened!)